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Monday, May 29, 2017

Mikaella Goes Boogie Boarding

Winter in Minnesota makes taking photos and reviewing summer swim outfits rather difficult. Well photographing swimwear in a natural setting is difficult to do in the winter. So this review is timely in the sense that it is now coming into bathing suit season, but not so timely in the sense that this outfit came out closer to Christmas time. Simply called “Boogie Board”, this outfit includes a wetsuit, sunglasses, water shoes, and, of course, a boogie board. For $12.99 it seems like a pretty good deal.

There are two large pieces to this set, the boogie board and the wetsuit. Since the wetsuit is the outfit, let’s look at that first. Made of a stretchy polyester fabric, the mostly pink and blue wet suit has long sleeves, but only board shorts length legs. Pale pink covers the arms, while a patch of white runs down the sides, a bright blue makes up the middle of the suit, and bright pink accents the sides of the shorts.

A rather unproportionally large zipper runs up the front of the suit, ending at the high, matching bright pink collar. The size of the zipper makes it very easy to get up and down, which is probably why this size was picked rather than a more proportionally accurate small zipper.

The suit is big on Mikaella, but fits well due to the materials innate stretchiness. You can really see the bagginess in the sleeves and around the waist.

A positive about the fit is that the looseness does make it much easier to get on.

Made of hallow plastic, the boogie board has similar colors to the wetsuit, although yellow is the main color in the board. Two thirds of the board is yellow, with three zig-zag stripes (a pink, a white, and another pink) breaking up the yellow from the blue side on the right third of the board.

The underside of the board is all yellow. In the middle of the board at the top there is a black plastic loop. An elastic cord is connected to this loop with a Velcro strap at the end to go around your dolls wrist or in Mikaella’s case, her ankle.

So when she wipes out the board doesn’t get too far away from her. Mikaella can kind of lay on the board and hold it, but to support herself on the board I had to use a hair binder. And just in case you were wondering, the board floats on its’ own, but not with Mikaella on it…for that I had to use some rocks underneath.

The color scheme of this set is carried over into the sunglasses too, with blue and pink fading into each other on the frames.

The big lenses have a bit of a blue tinge to them and are not very dark. Although they fit well around Mikaella’s ears and sit correctly on her nose, the glasses still fall off pretty easily.

Made of clear pink plastic the shoes have a slit up the back to make them easy to get on and off. There are rows of little bumps, like gripper strips, but all over the shoes rather than just on the bottom.

Still wider than most Journey Girls shoes, these are one of the best fitting pair of Our Generation shoes I’ve seen. They fit especially well around the ankles, which is surprising since OG dolls have thicker ankles. Cute little water shoes.

RatingAll ratings are out of 10

Value 9 – At $12.99 this is a great outfit with a really cool accessory. There is nothing much to it other than the wetsuit, but that is well made. The boogie board is colorful and fun, as are the shoes and sunglasses. There really is nothing to fault in this set.

Fitment 8 – Even though the suit is loose, it still fits Mikaella well and does not look bad on her. Unlike so many OG shoes, these ones fit Mikaella well. As do the glasses. My one fitment complaint is…I would love to see something on the side of the board to hold her hands to it. Not a necessity, but it would be awesome!

Versatility 4 – I don’t know anyone that would buy a bathing suit or a wetsuit and think they were going to get some other use out of it other than using it for swimming. It’s no surprise then that this outfit doesn’t have much versatility. The accessories can be used with other outfits. The shoes would be great with other beach type of outfits. The glasses can go with almost any outfit. And any doll in a swimsuit can use the boogie board. So even though the outfit itself is not versatile, the set has some versatility.

Cuteness 6 – Again, I don’t know that many people think of a wetsuit as cute…but this one is cuter than most with its multiple colors. Personally, I think one of the cutest parts of this set are the shoes. They aren’t the fanciest shoes or the most beautiful, they just look like fun, running around at the beach shoes!

Overall 8 – This number isn’t really an average of the points, because this outfit is so specific to one use. So why 8? Well, the suit is made well with a great zipper up the front. The shoes fit great as do the sunglasses. Finally, the boogie board is a great accessory, whether you are using it for pretend play, or you are brave (or not so smart…like me) and use it in the water. And for this price, it is an awesome deal! Pick it up when you see it!

AG Notes
Swimsuits are great because they have a little bit of give in the fabric. This means that the swimsuits can fit the Journey Girls and the American Girl dolls equally well.

This suit fits perfectly on Saraphina, pulling up with no issues of sticking. The one place it is interesting is on her legs, where the suit sits right above the cut in her vinyl thigh. It in no way hinders the outfit or Saraphina, but Mikaella looks better with her straight leg.

The glasses have the same issue that they did with Mikaela. They fit, but fall off easily. The shoes are tight on Saraphina's feet, barely fitting. The back part of the shoe does not close all of the way as it does on Mikaella's foot.

And of course the boogie board works great for Saraphina. Her arms come in towards the center of her chest just a little bit more, making it easier for her to hold the board. Another great set for both Journey Girls and American Girls!

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Our Generation's Skateboard Set

This is the second skateboard set that I know of from Our Generation. “That’s How I Roll” was released a couple of years back as a regular set. It had a grunge feel to the outfit. “Fashion on Board”, the new set is more mainstream and is also sold as a Deluxe Fashion pack, costing around $17.99. The new set comes with the skateboard (of course), a two toned hoodie, leopard printed pants, skate shoes, and over the ear headphones. Is the set worth the $17.99 asking price, or is it better to let this set skate on by? Let’s find out.

Made of thick jersey fabric, the two toned hoodie is well made. The long sleaves are white with a white and gray striped elastic cuff around the wrists. A subtle purple/gray color makes up the body and hood of the hoodie.

Along the bottom of it, the same gray and white elastic cinch the hoodie tight on Ella’s waist. A small functioning zipper runs up the front of the hoodie. The fit is perfect!

Even with a t-shirt (not included…because I wear my hoodie without a shirt under it) underneath there was no issue getting the hoodie on.

Ella’s short hair cut made it a cinch to put the hood up, but dolls with longer hair will have a big lump at the back.

In many of the Our Generation sets recently released the pants are more leggings (a stretchy material) rather than actual pants. This is not the case with the one included in this set.

Made of a thick, almost jean like material, these gray pants have an elastic waist and are patterned with a black leopard print. They hang low in the back since the Journey Girls have no butt. Otherwise they fit great.

These shoes are interesting, because they are plastic, but they have laces and a tongue. The sole of the shoe is white with a black strip most of the way around, except at the front of the shoe where there is an added white rubber piece.

The tops of the shoes have a white toe area and the rest of the shoe is a mauve. Although the tops are plastic, these shoes are better than other all plastic OG shoes…and miles ahead of the Journey Girls plastic shoes. Like all OG shoes they are wide on Ella’s feet…but that does help her stand better!

A few years back Our Generation had little iPods with some of their sets. These iPods had earbuds with them, which were really cute, but never really fit into the dolls ears without some tape. Now earbuds have faded away a little and everyone has these ginormous over the ear headphones (think Beats or Skullcandy). The neon orange and white, wireless headphones that come with this set fit perfectly over Ella’s ears and are still not so big that they look clumsy.

So Ella can rock out to her favorite music while she skates along, not having to worry about wires or her headphones falling out. Oh…but she might need an iPod…and some pockets to put the iPod in.

The final piece of this set is the most important part of a set titled “Fashion On Board”. The skate board is the exact same style of board that was released a few years ago (except for the sticker on the bottom). Made of a nice thick plastic, the board has a black sandpaper like top, with a tribal design sticker on the bottom in shades of purple and blue.

Something that I found out the hard way with my last OG board…the sticker does not like tape. Even though it is glossy, the tape can rip the sticker. So be careful. The wheels on the skateboard are plastic, but roll great. The one thing that would be nice is to have a way to attach Ella’s feet to the board.

Although there is also part of me that likes the fact that there is not a way to attach her feet to the board…only because that is more realistic. So…nevermind…the board is awesome!

RatingAll ratings are out of 10

Value 8 – I feel like if the outfit didn’t have the headphones it would be a regular set. Although the hoodie is probably a little too nice to be in a regular set. The entire set is great. Two things that bother me about the set: why is there no t-shirt/undershirt? And it would be awesome to have cloth top shoes. Both very minor issues since most of us have t-shirts somewhere in our dolls woredrobe. And the shoes are still great, even if they are all plastic.

Fitment 9 – This outfit seems like it was made for the Journey Girls. As a matter of fact, there are Journey Girls outfits that don’t fit this well! Like so many other OG outfits the shoes are wide and the pants have a little extra fabric in the back for the butt that is missing from the Journey Girls. Still a great fitting outfit!

Versatility 9 – The pieces of this outfit can go with so many other outfits. I especially love the pants, because if you put those with a fancy top, they are quite dressy. The colors of the hoodie make it useable with jeans, leggings, and a variety of colors of bottoms. The shoes will go with almost any casual/athletic type of outfit. And I wouldn’t pair the headphones with a gown, they really can go with any outfit.

Cuteness 8 – For some reason I really love this outfit. I think some of it is the color of the hoodie. I really appreciate that it is not a full blown purple, but is really a gray with purple hints. The pants have a really cute pattern. The entire outfit is cute, without being too childish.

Overall 9 –Although I would like this set to cost a little less, it is well worth the $17.99. The hoodie is extremely well made, as are the pants. Even though the skate board is not new, it is a great accessory and is a blast to play with. There really isn’t anything that is bad about this set. It is a wonderful casual set. It can be difficult to find, so pick it up when you see it

AG Notes

Like most Our Generation outfits this one is a bit big on the Journey Girls, but it fits well on American Girls. Almost well. The sweatshirt fits amazingly well. There are no issues with it.

The same can not be said about the pants. They are tight around MaryEllen's calves. And they are very difficult to get around her heal as you pull them up.

She does have more padding for her butt, which helps the jeans fit better.

As is the case with many of the Our Generation shoes, these ones are tight. It takes a little effort to pull them over the heal, but not much.

The headphones fit wonderfully, surrounding the ears perfectly.

Even though this skateboard is shorter and not as wide as the American Girl skateboard, MaryEllen still stands on it very well.

This is a wonderful set for both Journey Girls and American Girls. It is well worth the price, and if you can find it on sale...it is even better@